Performing Arts Center Transforms with Interlocking Translucent Wall System
Completed in May 2021, the new Glorya Kaufman Performing Arts Center (GKPAC) at the Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services campus in Los Angeles presents a warm, inviting welcome to students of all abilities. Designed by AUX Architecture, this adaptive reuse project repurposed a 1965 temple renovating the original building and its congregational space into a 300-seat theater.
Achieving the transformative, architectural vision, EXTECH/Exterior Technologies, Inc. custom designed, engineered and fabricated its LIGHTWALL 3440® interlocking polycarbonate translucent wall system to meet the Center's multiple aesthetic and performance requirements.
"By wrapping the existing theater with a translucent addition, the building is evolved into a glowing new center for the campus," said AUX Architecture's founding partner and design director, Brian Wickersham, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP. Inspired by the Martha Graham dance piece, "Lamentation," inside and outside screens create a sense of compression and expansion throughout the new Center.
Producing the desired affect, EXTECH's LIGHTWALL system envelops GKPAC's 10,550-square-foot multi-use performing arts facility within a skin of 500mm, opal color, structural cellular polycarbonate panels. At night, the walls are illuminated from the interior and add a dramatic interplay of light and shadow. During the day, the system maximizes sunlight for a natural, diffused lighting throughout the Center.
GKPAC's luminescent design resembles a beacon, drawing all to its campus. The Center offers a stage where local and national artists share their artistry with a diverse audience including the students of Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services. Vista Del Mar's mission is to provide a trauma-responsive continuum of services to empower children, youth and families in Southern California to lead fulfilling lives.